


Point of View

by AgentClank



Category: Pack Street - Fandom, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-11-29 06:09:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11434776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentClank/pseuds/AgentClank
Summary: What are those twins (and Charlie) up to?





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What are those twins up to?

Ah, heat. My old enemy.

I open my curtains to a blinding flash of light, closing them almost instantly afterwards, sitting back down. Heat is generally not a thing I take kindly to: at least, not when I've been lazy about shearing. Actually no, I just can't stand it in general. The sun is particularly fierce today, and the fan I have is sending pathetic gusts my way. The bearings or something probably need oiling or something.

I should probably bring it to the shop.

Not right now, though. Bringing it all the way there and back in this weather would figuratively kill me.

Panting, I finish the last of my Mountain Ewe in one big gulp and fling it into the trash can across the room (bam, 2 points), getting up to fetch another from the fridge. Shuffling over, I open up the refrigerator door, and immediately open the freezer door too, sticking my head in and enjoying the cold. Breathing out a sigh, I rest my head inside for a minute. Ahh, sweet relief.

No.

I grab my drink and shut the doors. Don't need that on my electricity bill.

Returning to my couch, I sit down and crack it open, flipping through the channels. I never could get anything done when it was hot. It was always thoughts of 'how do I stop being on fire.' This time, remembering that the gas station nearby sold ice, I'm tempted to walk down there and pick up a big old bag of the stuff, come back, lie down on the couch, and plop it down on myself. I'd be really gross afterwards, but for maybe half an hour it would be glorious.

Wait, what am I doing here anyway? Didn't the common room downstairs get air conditioning recently? I smack myself on the head.

Dumbass.

Mustering the energy to get up, I grab my phone and the remaining cans out of the fridge, still in the six-pack wrapper, shut the door and hit the lights on the way to the door. About time to get out of my room anyway. It's been a while.

I turn to lock my door, and when I turn back around, Anneke's there on the staircase.

"Hi."

"Sup, fluff."

She's dragging a fairly large, nondescript cardboard box up the stairs, tied up around the center with string. Said box is about 8 inches in diameter, and longer than she is tall. And judging by the way she's taking the stairs one step at a time, it's pretty heavy.

"Need any help?"

"It's cool, I got it," she says, heaving the package up.

"Alright," I reply, standing out of her way while she pulls it up the last few steps. "How's it hanging?"

"Apart from this heat? Great. You?"

She notices me eyeing the box.

"Dildo."

I scrunch my face and wave my hoofs up into the air in an exaggerated manner. She snickers at my gesture, and I grin in return.

"Don't worry about it," she says in a reassuring tone before getting out the keys to her apartment. I blink once.

"Alright, well, I'll be downstairs."

She winks at me before disappearing into her room.

Shrugging to myself, I head downstairs, eager to get down to the lobby. Right now, the only thing on my mind is getting cool.

* * *

The heat wave has passed!

Actually no, that's not true. It's still here. From what I understand, though, there's been some sort of damage at the climate wall, and as a result a whole lot more cold air than is supposed to be put out is being released. I imagine even the residents there are not having too pleasant a time, but over here on Pack, we're taking full advantage of it before the engineers get to resolving the issue.

Which, in my case, basically means going out for a Burga.

Heck, it's been a while, and everyone's been feeling cooped up too, so here we all are. Well, me, Charlie, Anneke, and Marty, anyway. The place is packed as we expected, but Charlie nonetheless managed to sneak us a table again. I'm tempted to actually ask her for some of her secrets in pulling off these shenanigans.

Then again, I doubt I'd be able to replicate it.

I sit quietly, savoring my Deluxe as I listen in, the din of the joint providing a nice change of pace for once. The cashiers are ringing up as fast as they can, and the doors don't go 10 seconds without opening, hungry customers afoot. Outside, the cars are piled up, and a raccoon is carrying out brown bags by hand to the smaller vehicles while a repairman tries to fix the machine that's supposed to raise and lower takeout orders. I notice a cheetah spilling his drink out of the corner of my eye, next to a rowdy group of teens chatting up a storm. At our own table, Marty is arguing with Charlie. Something to do with his "supplies," though I've not been paying attention.

"That's not the point," he says, as he puts a paw over his face. "It's about trust. We been through this."

"So what's the problem?"

"I swear to god..."

Charlie sniffs at her burger, then takes a bite out of it.

Taking a sip of my drink, I turn over to Anneke, who seems amused by the whole debacle.

"So Annie."

"Yep."

"About that thing the other day... what was that?"

"What thing?"

"You know, that box you had with you."

"Oh. Like I said, dildo," she grinned.

"Psh," I snorted. "For like a rhino maybe."

She sits there, smirking and making faces at me.

I raise my eyebrows. "C'moon, tell me. What's the big secret?"

"Remmy, sweetie, baby," she vocalizes in a singsong voice, "if you really want to see it, maybe I'll invite you over to my place sometime..." she cooed, waggling her eyebrows at me.

A couple months ago, I might still have been a little annoyed, rolling my eyes and imagining myself to be more of a refined mammal. You know, the type to think of themselves as above it all, not willing to stoop to such crudities, a _classy_ sort. It would have bugged me that she was dodging my question, but frankly? Now this vague, joking flirtatiousness actually has sort of a charm for me. Not gonna lie, I might even be a little into it. She does have that kind of appealing allure and general affability to her, and w-

"Earth to Remmy."

I'm jolted out of my daydream by Charlie, who's waving her hand in front of me. Oops.

"Y-yeah?"

"Going for refills. Want anything?"

"O-oh, no thanks," I mutter out. She slinks off with just the three cups.

Anneke's looking at me.

"H-hey."

"You okay, grazer?" she asks, grabbing a handful of fries and putting them into her mouth.

"Yeah, just... spaced out for a second. This heat's been giving me headaches."

She shrugs and nods.

"So did you guys hear?" Marty interjects. "Turns out the damage at the wall was caused by arson."

"No shit?" Annie raises her eyebrows.

"Yeah.

"But why?" I chime in.

"No idea."

"Who knows, maybe somebody just went nuts or something. You know, just blew up and set everything on fire."

"Nah, it's looking like it's premeditated. You know how important the wall is, right? They take security very seriously, so they have cameras all over, and this conveniently happened to occur in one of the very few spots that isn't covered."

"That's pretty wack."

"Yeah. Like who would want to do that?"

"Not a clue. ZPD's investigating right now. They have to be fast, though. The longer they delay repairs, the further the cold is gonna spread. I wouldn't envy anyone in Rainforest if it reaches them."

"Geez," I mutter, finishing up the last of my burger. "Any clue when that'll be?"

"Nope. Hoping it lasts until the heatwave is over. Looks like it's going to be clear skies for the next few days."

I mutter something in agreement.

"Speaking of-" Marty interjects, "-did you get the thing?"

"Yep."

"We on for tonight?"

"You know it. After the game of course. You're gonna be there too, right fluff?"

There's a game tonight? How did I forget?

"Yeah, you know it."

"Good. Cause I want Mantis Fries."

"I'm... what?"

"Ten boxes. And don't forget the sauce," Charlie says, slurping up the last of her drink and slinking away.

"Oh right, I guess we forgot to mention that. It's your turn to get the food," Anneke snorts out.

"Dammit, guys."

"Sorry, heheh."

Well whatever, it's something I'm looking forward to.

I get up and dump my tray over at the garbage disposal, before strolling back, pointing towards the door.

"Leaving so soon?"

"I kinda have to," I reply. "I'm with Charlie. She's taking me to a guy to get my fan fixed. I'll see you guys later."

"Alright, later, grazer."

I shuffle through the crowds, heading out into the streets to catch up with the corsac fox.

* * *

"Oh come on! He was wide open!"

"Seriously."

"You're telling me. How did he miss that?"

The game is underway.

It's Tundratown vs. Outback Island now, and the gang's all here, chatting it up, making wagers, munching on fast food, and generally having a good time. I've come to really enjoy these little get-togethers that we have, whether it's for sports or a movie night or whatever happens to be on the menu. It's just a really good way for the pack to get together and bond. Even if it does sometimes eat into my wallet, such as tonight.

"Five minutes. What do you think?"

"I think they're throwing is what I think."

"We'll see. I still feel they can pull it off."

They could not.

It's strange. Tundratown was the clear favorite to win, but somehow they'd just been messing up play after play. I guess everyone has those bad days where nothing goes right. Basketball players included.

"Bull! Complete and utter bull!" Marty calls out, as Avo laughs through her lollipop.

"Time to pay the piper."

"They have to be throwing! How else can you explain that last jump shot? He's almost a full foot taller and he still got blocked!"

"I don't have to. You know what you owe me."

Marty lets out a growl.

"I expect delivery by midnight, Friday," she said, smirking.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your panties in a twist," he grumbles. "I suppose this is what I get." He grabs his phone and shoves his empty can into the trash. "I'm heading up early," he motions towards them. "Good fuckin' game, everyone."

Avo's still laughing her ass off as he's leaving the room.

I scrunch up my eyebrows and make a gesture towards the doorway. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah yeah, don't worry about it," she replies.

"Marty just gets a little invested, that's all. He'll be fine in a bit," Wolter chimes in.

I respond with a shrug.

"Speaking of," Betty begins, as she cracks her neck and stretches her arms, "I've got a thing to get to tomorrow morning, so sleep's probably a good idea," she says, getting up and walking towards the door. "This was fun. Ciao."

"Cya, Betty," Wolter calls out. He then whispers something to Anneke, and she nods her head. "We're gonna go too. Laters."

I wave. Avo shrugs. "So what now?"

"Eh," Al shrugs, "let's just see if there's anything on." The others concur, and he begins flipping channels.

* * *

I'm not exactly certain what time it is, except that it's way too late, and I have work tomorrow.

Letting out a long yawn, I climb up the stairs, holding on to the railing to guide me as I walk up, eyes half closed. Probably shouldn't have stayed up as late as I did, but I suppose there's nothing I can do about it now. I blink a little and lick my lips, reaching for the key in my pocket.

Stepping into the hallway, I walk over to my apartment, and as I get the key in, my ears perk up as another door opens down the end of the hallway, which wakes me up a little bit. I fumble with the lock a little bit before I turn to see who it is.

To my surprise, it's Wolter.

"Hey Wolt," I greet.

"Hey," he replies, as he opens up his own apartment door. "How's it hanging?"

"Thought you went to bed earlier."

"Nope," he casually mutters, as he enters his apartment, Anneke stepping into view while brushing her teeth. "I am now, though. Night, grazer."

"Good night, guys."

I turn around and almost take a step into my before pausing. I peer over to the end of the hallway where he came from. It's just another staircase. So he's been upstairs? What's upstairs?

I decide that I'm overthinking this, so I step into my apartment and shut the door. It's going to be a long day tomorrow, and I need to sleep now. I lock the door, toss the keys onto the table, and jump into the sheets, fluffing up my pillow and resting my hand under it.

Tomorrow's another day.


	2. The Rooftops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remmy just wants to enjoy his ice cream after a long day at work. Is that too much to ask?

I'm all sweaty.

Remember that heat wave that's been going around for a couple of weeks? It's way too hot to work in it, especially when your job gets you moving things around in a stuffy warehouse with no ventilation. At the very least, I don't have to exert myself physically while driving the forklift.

Anyway, that's all over now. I'm finally out after a few hours of stewing in there, and instead, I find myself in front of a new shop. Larry Lupeaux's, a small chain that began as an offshoot to Jerry Jumbeaux Jrs., but catering more to predator tastes, whatever that means. And which now has about ten locations open, including this new one just a couple blocks away from my apartment.

The one I'm currently standing outside, awkwardly looking through the window as a cheetah walks past me raising an eyebrow, I realize.

I gather my senses and follow suit, the clinking of bells accompanying my opening of the door. I let out a sigh of relief as the air conditioning washes over my face. Here, a mishmash of various mammals are scattered all over. Looks like the place is already pretty popular: seems like the timing was perfect for this place to open. I take a spot in line behind a couple of gossipy jaguar teens.

The queue moves fast. I approve of their efficiency, even as it provides me little time to enjoy the AC before I'm shuffling out the door with a Seamus Sullivan's Sweet-tooth Special, with dip. An Irish favorite, the menu said, so lots of green (well, mint) and gold (sprinkles. lots of sprinkles.). A little tacky, I think, but it's quite good.

Savoring my little treat, I make my way down the street. It's cloudy now, and there are a lot of kids around, just having gotten out of school. It's rather quiet this afternoon as I make my way back to my apartment. I imagine people must be staying out of the heat or something.

I'm caught by surprise as I'm rounding the corner as a tiny tube-ish mammal of some sort dashed by me, causing me to splat my ice cream on my shirt.

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry!..." he calls out, not losing any momentum as he dashes down the street.

Another something else whizzes by me, causing me to drop my ice cream and almost lose my footing. I turn back around to see a cheetah chasing after him.

"Get back here twerp!"

Kids. Of course.

I peer down at my ice cream on the ground and my messed up shirt, annoyed. Grumbling to myself, I bend over and pick up the cone, dumping it into a nearby trashcan. Without a napkin or anything, I wipe my shirt off with my hoof, which gets most of it off but leaves a large stain on it nonetheless, and gets sprinkles everywhere. Somehow they're even more sticky, and I fumble to get them off with my hooves, with little success. Exasperated, I finally decide "fuck it," and take off.

I get back to my apartment a couple minutes later, opening up to door to the lobby and stepping inside, shutting it behind me.

"Long day of work at the strip club, fluff?"

"Ha ha, Avo."

The jackal is sitting on one of the armchairs in the lobby, arms on the rest, legs together, head slightly turned with her eyes peering out the side, a bored look on her face.

"Well don't worry, you look fabulous."

I nod in her direction. "Would love to chat, but this is my favorite shirt, and I have to scrub it clean before anything sets in. Well, anything more."

She turns back around to the TV and waves me out.

Moments later I'm back at my room. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I take a moment to put my things in a drawer before removing my pants. While I'm taking my shirt off, however, I notice something weird. A Bug Burga bag on my counter. I trod over towards it and peer inside to see a large meal, full condiments and everything. There's even a little pudding cup on the side: Bug Burga doesn't sell those. Where did this come from?

I hear a clinking sound from my bathroom.

Walking over to investigate, I open the door to find Charlie in my face.

"Gah!" I gasp, jumping backwards and covering my crotch with my shirt instinctively.

"Hi Cormo," she greets without budging.

"Dammit Charlie, what the hell!"

She looks down at my naked body and back up, expressionless.

"Just popping by. I'll be on my way if you wanna, you know..."

"No no no, wait, no, you don't just come in here a-and and and-"

"It's hardly the first time y-"

"-and it's still a breach of my space and WHAT are you holding there?!"

"Just borrowing a couple things. Don't b-"

"You can't just... what-"

"I was gonna return them, settle do-"

"Where are those from?!"

She's holding a few bolts.

"Cormo, calm down."

"You can't just steal-"

"Borrow."

"-parts out of my room! Where are they even from?"

She walks over and motions to my shower stall. "It's just alternate pieces holding these pieces together. You don't need 'em, unless you're really roughhousing in your shower."

"You're taking parts out of my shower?"

Looking over at where she's pointing, she's probably right. These bolts seem unnecessarily excessive for the panes they were holding together- no wait that's not the point.

"I was gonna pick some new ones up and put them back in, so don't worry, you can ha-"

"Why are you taking screws from my bathroom?!"

"Cormo, calm down."

I pause for a moment, closing my eyes and breathing in. Letting out a sigh, I remember the bag of food on my counter.

Looking over to it, I query. "Was that you?"

"Yeah. Just a little something for your trouble. I mistimed your return a little, I guess."

I rub my temples. Charlie may have an issue understanding things like boundaries, but she's never been malicious or anything. I do need to have a talk to her at some point, but honestly, right now I'm hungry and tired just enough to let it slip.

"Alright. Fine. Just, remember to fix it up. "

"It'll be good as new."

She starts heading towards the door, but I beckon her attention.

"Just, one thing, Charlie."

"Shoot."

"What _are_ you doing with those screws, anyway?"

She blinks at me (very subtly), turns around at the door, and then turns back to me. She paws at her chin, then gives me the once over for some reason, before nodding.

"You know what, I'll show you. Come with me. Bring the food, if you like."

She heads out the door. I scratch the back of my head, and decide what the hell. I grab my keys and the bag, and follow her out the door, only to be greeted by Al walking up the stairs. He stops and nods at Charlie, then turns over to me, looking down at my feet then up to my face before raising an eyebrow and twitching his nose. Frankly, this quiet from him is a little unnerving. I stand there for a moment with my arms grasping the bag of food in front of me before nervously letting out a "Hi."

"Cormo," he grunts back. "None of my business, I suppose. Have a good one," he says before thumping off.

I peer over at Charlie and shrug at her, wondering what that was about. She responds by looking at me and pointing her head down, and I realize I'm still in my underwear. My face immediately turns red and I cover my crotch with my hooves, bag in hand, quickly backing off into my room and slamming the door.

After taking a few moments to recover from the shock, I reopen the door slightly. Charlie's still there, a neutral expression on her face.

"Don't move. I'll be right out."

I slam the door shut again. "Don't worry, it was only Al," I tell myself to try and reduce the embarrassment I feel as I scrub my shirt in the sink a little overly hard.

====

I open the door again, a fresh set of clothes on, and wave to Charlie who's leaning on the wall opposite, doodling on her phone. She peers up and nods at me, and beckons me to follow her without so much as a mention of what had just happened.

"So, um..."

"Mm hmm."

"-where are we going I guess?"

"You'll see," she replies, as she leads me up the stairs.

We arrive at the top, and as I follow behind her, she stops suddenly, turning to the door on the left. She pulls out a key and unlocks it, heaving it open and stepping through.

This is new to me: we're climbing another flight of stairs, but it's dark in here, there's a faint smell of some sort, and I'm fairly certain I heard a hissing or something. Nonetheless my fears are quickly assuaged as we reach the top, and Charlie pushes the door open out to the rooftops.

"Huh. Didn't even realize this was a thing."

"Yep. Nobody actually comes here except maybe HVAC."

I peer around. I can see the ventilation ducts, and there's gutters around the side of the concrete barriers. Apart from that, there isn't anything else around. Looking over the side, there's a decent view of the block, stretching out both ways of the street.

"Over here, Remmy."

I look over and see Charlie at the side of the building. I walk a few steps forward before she jumps up onto the guard barrier.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" I panic slightly.

"This way," she waves, before hopping off the side of the building.

"Charlie!"

My heart is pounding as I race over to the side of the building, only to find that she's jumped about two feet down onto a ledge on the side of the building.

"What the shit, Charlie!"

"Come on down."

I get a feeling down in my stomach that this is going to lead to something a little less than legal.

"C'mon, I don't have all day."

Gritting my teeth in hesitation, I lift myself over the side of the building and lower myself down onto the ledge. Gazing over the ledge, I back up a little bit and attempt to ground my feet properly.

"Alright, good, now just do as I do."

She hopes over to the ledge on the building directly next to ours. I gulp slightly and find myself clinging to the wall: the gap is two, maybe three feet. I pause for a moment, and she stares blankly at me.

"You're not afraid of heights or anything, are you?"

"Me? Nah, just a little averse to falling. And impact. And broken bones."

"Don't worry about it. You know how they say don't look down?"

"Y-yeah."

"All they really mean is watch where you're putting your hands and feet. Just keep them holding onto something firm and you'll be fine."

I nod and make a gesture indicating that I'm coming over, before hopping over. I slip a little on landing, but Charlie grabs my arm.

"Alright. Follow me."

The ledge on this side is fairly wide. Wide enough that we can walk normally. I imagine it's for keeping rain out of the windows or something? Anyway, I tag behind Charlie as she leads me along. Down below is the alleyway: I can see the fence that blocks it off halfway. Nothing behind it save a couple of dumpsters. We reach the end of the ledge, and there's the back alley.

Charlie slips around the corner of the building. I peer behind the wall, and stop. The ledge on this side of the building is way narrower, maybe like a foot and a half. She's shimmying along it, hands on the wall.

"This way."

I stand there for a moment. She turns her head around and faces me. "...no? It's fine, just hold on to these," she says, pointing them out. There appear to be bricks sticking out of the wall, in a fairly orderly pattern. I figure they're part of the building's design.

"I, uhh..." I mutter, holding up my hooves.

Her eyes widen just a little bit. "Oh right." She looks down at the ledge, then at the slats she's holding onto. "It'll be fine," she chirps. "Here."

She holds her paw out to me. Glancing nervously at the ground below us, I take a deep breath and shuffle over onto the ledge, grabbing it and holding onto the sill as best I can.

"Tell me if you need me to slow down or whatever."

"Alright."

I press my arm to the wall, and we shimmy along the ledge slowly, the sounds of a lazy afternoon humming in the background. I notice our destination before we reach it.

"This is probably illegal, isn't it? I mean, us being up here."

"Actually, no."

She arrives at a fire escape. Letting go of my hood, she deftly vaults over the guardrail. I follow up, grabbing the rail carefully and climbing over slowly. She reaches out her paw again and helps me over. I land on my feet safely and let out a sigh of relief as she dusts her shirt.

"Alright, almost there."

We begin to climb up the stairs. Round and round we go for several stories, our footsteps clanking lightly on the metal structure. I peer into every window we pass by, but can't really make out much of anything. They appear to be tinted or something. I attempt to open one, but it's locked. I wonder what the mammals who live here would think if they saw us out here.

We quickly arrive at the top floor. At this point I look quizzically at Charlie, half expecting her to pull out a tool of some sort and pick at the window, when she jumps onto the pipe on the side of the catwalk and starts climbing up.

"Hey what the shit, Charlie!"

She ignores me as she scales up the thing, paws wrapped around the pipe as she uses the protruding brick pattern for her footing. I stare in disbelief as she climbs up and over to the roof, arms in the air.

She comes back and peers over the side.

"Come on."

Groaning but defeated since I've already come all this way, I attempt to imitate her, pulling myself up slightly more clumsily than she had. The pipe feels a little flimsy, so I hesitate.

"Don't worry, look, I'll hold it up," she assures me, grabbing onto the top of the pipe. I slowly make my way up, wary of every move I make, and when I finally make it up Charlie mutters "About time," as she pulls me up over the ledge.

"Yeah, yeah, I-- woah."

This rooftop looks fairly similar to ours, except it's almost like someone actually lives here. There's a radio and a couple of boxes next to the door, and what appears to be a cooler. Off to the side, a telescope and a couple pairs of binoculars on a workbench, along with a cardboard box and a small flat screen TV. Further to the left, there's garden umbrellas and a round table, with seats and deck chairs beside, and behind, a hammock in the corner, held up by the ledges. Heck, there's even a ping pong table up here.

"Nice setup," I chirp, chin up.

"I thought you might like it," she responds, turning on the radio. An old , relaxing blues piece comes on, which I quickly recognize as Bring It On Home, something that Ozzy's played to me before. I turn my attention to Charlie.

"Is this... are we allowed up here? Looks like it belongs to someone." I motion towards the door behind her.

"Nah, this stuff is all mine, actually. Well, some of it, anyway," she says. "Besides, this place is actually locked up. Big ol' chain and pad behind this door. Nobody comes up here."

"How do you know?"

She blinks a couple times, then walks past me, grabbing a set of binoculars on the way. "Over here," she says, as she trots over to the side of the building. I oblige, as she stares through her scope, adjusting the zoom and lenses. I rest my arms on the ledge, staring out in the same direction as she is.

"Here, have a look," she says, handing me the binoculars.

I peer through as she guides my arms, pointing me to a back alley.

My ears perk up a little, as I recognize a huge Siberian tiger. She's in the back alley, overseeing a delivery while munching on a sandwich. A couple of deers of some sort in fairly plain looking delivery uniforms are unloading boxes from an innocuous looking truck. Notably, they have logos on their shirts, but there's nothing on the truck. Makes sense for that kind of merchandise, I suppose? I contemplate what's in the boxes as they move them out one by one.

"Is that Pandora?"

"Yep. Say hi," Charlie says, as Pandora turns around and waves at me. I jump as the sound of her voice comes over a speaker.

"Hi marshmallow."

I turn around and see Charlie snickering a little, holding up her phone. Red in the face, I stammer out a "hello."

"Enjoying the view?"

"H-hey now- I wasn't- Charlie just-"

"Relax Remmy, just messing with you," she chuckles.

I'm making disgruntled noises, and I'm sure she can hear them over the phone. "Just... yeah, hi I guess."

"Well I gotta get this order sorted out. We'll talk later, 'kay?"

"Alright, later."

I turn around to a corsac fox with a hint of a grin on her face. I shoot her a glare that's mostly ineffectual as she turns around, swishing her tail in my direction.

"Welcome to our little hideout," she chirps. "Enjoy your stay."

"Thanks," I murmur. "So you just hang out here?"

"Yep. Good place to unwind, I think."

"It's pretty cool. Wait, 'our'? Who else comes up here?"

"Just Marty and the twins. Oh, hey, here." She walks over to the cooler and opens it, grabbing a couple of ice cream bars and handing one to me.

"Oh, thank you," I say, as she tears the wrapper on hers open. "I actually dropped mine earlier."

"Oh, is that what that was? Okay."

"Yeah."

We step over and lean on the ledge while we quietly enjoy our little treats, watching the traffic and the breeze go by. It's pretty peaceful up here, not a whole lot of noise, although perhaps that's just the general lack of activity today. There's a cool breeze going on in the background and clouds in the sky now, too. Everything just feels in place.

I notice Charlie's picked up the binoculars again, and she's looking at the park down the street. I can make out that there's a couple of kids playing there, in the fountain, and as I finish my ice cream, she turns around.

"So you were asking about the bolts earlier, right?"

"Yeah."

"Here they are." She holds out the bolts that she took, and walks back over to the pipe that we climbed up. Somehow she's pulled a nut driver and a socket wrench out of nowhere, and is now undoing something at the top of the pipe. I stare quietly as she pulls out a cracked bolt that can't have been safe to climb up. Tossing it to the side, she pulls out another one before fastening the ones she took from me to a new set of nuts and tightening it.

"Safety first," she proclaims, grabbing the old set and stuffing it in her pocket. "Anyway, I have to get going. Got a couple more errands to run. You can stay up here as long as you want. Just keep it a little hush hush, yeah?"

"Sure," I nod.

"Also, don't suppose you're free tomorrow night?"

"I am. Anything in mind?"

She turns her head around and turns back at me before hopping off the ledge onto the pipe. "Show up here, maybe ten-ish. We're hanging out."

"I'll be there," I respond as she takes off. I turn around and gaze at this little corner of Zootopia, walking back and exploring it, rummaging through some of the stuff before having a seat. Today wasn't so bad.

I hang out here for a few minutes, before a thought strikes me and I panic slightly, breaking a sweat. What if I can't make it back down by myself?

**Author's Note:**

> Having gone through my outline I'm now realizing that this story is actually way more ambitious than I thought at first, and would require much more work than I wanted to put in, on top of not being sure I'm good enough to actually make it work. To boot, I've been busy for a while now, and haven't given much time to writing at all, and I will likely be for a while longer, so I'm shelving it for now. Apologies in advance.


End file.
